Darkness Reversed
by RedPaintedRoses
Summary: When Allen, Lavi, and Lenalee all come across a new innocence, they also come across a new and backwards world where the people they know aren't who they are supposed be and everything is completely reversed. Eventual AllenxRoad
1. Chapter 1

Darkness. There was nothing. No sign of light and no audible sounds except for the feeling of knowing there was some semblance of it far away from where he stood at the moment. He felt he could remember partially what rattling or cries or speaking sounded like, but with the overwhelming feeling of complete emptiness, he felt the memory of those things slipping from his mind.

He was Allen Walker, and he was all too familiar with the never ending slip into darkness that seemed to follow him wherever he went. There was no comfort, and there most certainly wasn't any warmth to make him feel even the slightest bit at home in his own mind. Then again, it hadn't been his mind for quite some time now, and that was the one thing that was familiar.

Neah.

With the growing power of the evil taking over his mind, pushing and shoving Allen away as far as possible, it made the unfamiliar actually something he could recognize. That wasn't really something he wanted, no one would want the disappearance of their own mind to become something they were accustomed to, but that was the easiest way he could think about it.

Of course, Allen Walker was a fighter. He couldn't let the Noah inside his mind take his body as well. Allen was strong. He was a warrior. A boy built to fight in a never ending war between good and evil. He had to keep walking. It was his promise to his father, and now it was a promise made for himself as well.

…Keep walking...

"... Keep walking..."

"Yes that's right Allen, you keep walking until you hit the fork in the road and then turn left-"

Another voice that was neither his nor Neah's shoved its way through the darkness of his mind and made itself known. This voice was more familiar than the Noah, as it belonged to Komui, his section leader and the one currently eyeballing him with extreme criticism.

Allen's eyes widened as he realized he'd fallen asleep during a briefing and he sat up comically and apologized for nodding off during such an important meeting. His falling asleep had become more and more frequent and it happened at the strangest and most inappropriate of times. Once he found himself being woken during a battle, another time he found his face buried in his favorite dish of mitarashi dango, and now this. His coworkers at the Order all joked that he was over working himself, or that he was now falling victim to narcolepsy. The looks in their eyes, however, showed him they were all fearful of what was really happening. He was becoming the 14th faster and sooner and there was no way of stopping it.

Allen laughed, trying his best to push their attentions off him and back to the subject at hand. "Ah! I'm sorry! Timcanpy kept me up all night wanting to eat Link!" Allen let himself laugh again and then shuffled through the files that Komui had given them to look through.

Beside him sat Lenalee and Lavi, both of who were going to be accompanying him on this new mission. He could feel their eyes watching him closely before they went back to their rundown of the mission.

"That's fine Allen! Just pay attention now please! Innocence is at stake and we can't afford to lose any more of it." Komui, who was usually a joke of a man, had a serious gleam in his eye and Allen knew he meant business. The starkly white dressed Asian man was talking about the day that was still imbedded into all their minds. The order had been attacked and a lot of exorcists had been killed, taking their innocence with them to the grave. All of this was thanks to the Noah family who had broken in and brought in a massive group of monsters known as akuma with them.

"Right, so..." Komui continued as he shifted through his large stacks of papers. Most of them were old files that needed to be signed, some were letters. Allen could remember when he had been attacked by the exorcist known as Kanda when he first arrived at the order. It had all happened because of the unordered desk that belonged to the one and only Chief that sat in front of them now. "This is a special town in that people keep coming across doppelgängers. A lot of them are causing havoc and the originals are being place. A finder was sent to investigate the case and he found that most of the doppelgängers appear from a shop that just recently opened up in the center of it all. Strangely enough it's a mirror town. "

"So they think that the people from the mirror are coming out and what? Attacking their counterparts to become the real ones?" Lavi asked as he closed his own file and set it on the table. He'd read about the town in nothing but a glance, but he continued to read it over and over in hopes of finding something missing from the story.

"Brother.. That sounds a bit out of hand... And strange... Stranger than usual for innocence at the very least don't you think?" Lenalee looked up from her own papers and gave a look to her brother. Her short hair was starting to grow out again and she looked cute with her pigtails pulled up once again. It fit the look of the new red and black uniforms quite well. Most of the employees of the Dark Order mostly knew that Komui secretly told the science department to model every new uniform after anything Lenalee specifically needed. Once her innocence changed to that of the crystal type, the uniforms changed to match the red of her blood anklets. She found it embarrassing, and told Komui to stop, but he had always out of hand. Sometimes he was too much even for her.

Lavi nodded in agreement. Never had innocence actually started attacking and hurting people before, so he was glad he was going to actually see it in person to record it in the bookman libraries. "Yeah it sounds like some sort of cheap novel trope or something..." But he wouldn't say that it wasn't an interesting turn of events.

The three turned to one another and nodded in agreement, this would be interesting.


	2. Chapter 2

**_A/N: I just wanted to thank everyone for the reviews and favorites and follows. I'm really happy and grateful to you all and you're all absolutely amazing. I also wanted to apologize for any typos or bad grammar I had or have or will have. It is in no way on purpose, but I do type my story up on my phone. I go over it as best as I can once or twice when I get the chance to edit on a computer so thank you for being understanding about that. Without further ado, chapter 2_**

Night had fallen by the time they had arrived at their destination. By then Allen was rubbing his eyes from being so tired, and when he looked to either side of him, both Lenalee and Lavi looked much the same. "Should we go find a hotel? It's already dark, I doubt we'd get to do much in our state..." He offered to his companions.

Lenalee shook her head and shifted from one tired leg to the other," We can't. Brother said that the innocence is most active at night. That was why he set for us to arrive just in time, so we could witness it in action."

That was right. Allen had forgotten that fact in his sleepless state. He scratched at his head and gave his third loud yawn in the last half-hour. "... Oh yeah I forgot."

Lavi snickered at his friend's tired sounds and then scratched at his own head. "To be fair all we have to do is observe tonight, Allen. It'll be quick and sweet. Just t'scope out how it could work. Then we can go conk out for th'night!"

Lavi's smile was contagious and Allen returned it with ease. His sleep had been wiped out and a cheerfulness replaced it quite easily. "Yeah! Sounds good to me!" He replied with a smile.

Lenalee also nodded and they found themselves quickly rejuvenated as they decided to work towards the common goal of finishing up for the night. With their mission on mind, they began to search the area for any people or clues. One man reassured Allen he'd been one of the people to see their evil twins. Lenalee too ran into a man who swore on his life that he had. Lavi became distracted by a woman with lavender eyes and large breasts, of which Lenalee had to pull him away from.

"Lavi! When we decided to just observe I don't think we agreed on you observing women's chests from up close!" Allen couldn't help but laugh as she scolded the redhead.

With their wandering about they'd discovered that the dark gray bricked town looked a lot like a normal town. It worked the same. It was designed the same. There were carriages and men of questionable disclosure. Shops that stayed open at night, and a large ongoing festival in center court also join in the fray. The most interesting thing was that, indeed, it wasn't just the innocence that did its magic at night. The entire town did. It was a gathering of kindred night spirits, everyone seeming alive and bright, and most definitely not like they were affected by the time at all.

"I think that's why the innocence only works at night... At least it would make sense." Allen suggested, to which the other two nodded in agreement once again.

"It's in a never-ending party too from what it seems." Lenalee chimed in as she let her eyes roam the sky's decorations of strung lanterns swaying in the breeze. "It's beautiful really. But with it going on, it makes it extremely difficult to navigate properly and try to find the innocence..."

They released a sigh in unison and hopped back as a clown unicycled it's way past them. It wore a mask with red and gold horns coming off each side and a sly grin. In place of eyes or eye holes, however, there were mirrors. They reflected the trio as the clown worked its way away from them to disappear into the rest of the crowd.

"That was weird... Anyone else see that?" Lavi asked as he tried to jump up and catch sight of the now gone clown.

"Yeah. How could he see without having a place for his eyes..?" Lenalee asked, suddenly gasping, she smacked a fist onto her open palm. "We should check the mask shop! Brother did mention mirrors! It's worth a check right?"

She received a nod from Lavi as approval and they looked to Allen now. His time as a clown in the circus had given him plenty of practice with riding a unicycle without looking, but he did find it a strange coincidence that it would have mirrors for eyes. "It's our only lead, so lets go for it!"

The three grabbed their belongings that they had been trudging along all night and with a new burst of energy ran in the direction all the masked people were coming from. Surely enough they came upon the shop they needed to.

"... It's... Run down. " Allen said slowly as he stared up at the delapidated building. Just as he said, it was disgusting and cobwebbed. The stones and bricks it was built out of seemed a lot much older than the others around it, which looked brand new. Ivy crawled up its sides in a twirling dance up the stone walls. The door, which they could tell was originally painted red, was a faded color of pink mixed with a dirty gray.

But this was definitely the place. If any buildings caught their attention, it was definitely this one.

"It's the only one in the entire town like it, and its name is The Masked Mirror. It can't get any more plain than this!" Lavi exclaimed as he bounded forward like an excited rabbit.

Allen was right behind him, ready to jump inside, when they were both grabbed by the collar and snapped backward. "Hold on. I know it was my idea to head in there... But it really IS getting to be a little obvious isn't it?"

Allen and Lavi looked up from the ground at Lenalee, the backs of their collars still in her firm grasp. "What? Are you saying the innocence is trying to get us to find it? Isn't that a little weird?"

It may have been weird, but he couldn't say that he'd never been chased by innocence either. Lenalee seemed to read his mind and her brows raised in a knowing fashion. "What if its Apocryphos again...?" She asked. Her voice became quiet and Lavi even stopped shuffling about at the mention of the insane man made out of insane innocence.

Allen even paused at the mention of him and stared at the shop's large window, hoping to use his eye to somehow peek inside and see the inside workings of the decrepit store. "We will face it if it is a trap. But we can't just hide and crawl whenever we fear he'll be around again. What if its just innocence looking to be brought back to HQ? We can't leave it here for the Noah family to find it."

Both Lavi and Lenalee knew he was right and Lenalee let them go, dropping them to the ground. "Alright. But no working alone. No running away again Allen. You have us with you, so make sure that we all stick together! No matter what!"

Lavi held a fist out and Allen laughed, pounding it. "I won't let either of you down I promise!"

Yet another knowing nod was traded between the three of them and Lenalee pulled Allen and Lavi up. They were going in...

Her boots activating quickly, Lenalee kicked the door in roughly, waiting for some sort of fight to come at them. Lavi had his hammer in hand, ready as well. Allen had been pushed to the back, his friends still protective of him, even if he could hold his own.

The only thing the kick did was stir up an endless amount of dirt and dust. They sneezed and coughed and hacked until their lungs were a tad clearer, then they finally peeked inside.

"It's completely empty!" Lavi shouted.

"Not... completely... Empty " Allen responded as his gloved hand pushed past them and pointed towards the back wall.

There it was. Everything surrounding it was grimy and covered in caked on disgust. The mirror that waited for them on the other side, however, was clean. It sparkled with their reflections as they wandered over to stand in front of it. It held the familiar green glow that innocence always seemed to have. The glow that though cold in color, was warmer than they could ever experience. It was a warmth that covered not their bodies, but their souls. Their own innocence, when activated, covered them in such an embrace, and this mirror was not unlike them.

"This still seems too... Easy" Lenalee warned. Allen had to admit, his danger senses were going off as well, but he sensed no akuma around, nor was his innocence reacting to Apocryphos. It really was just as simple as them going over and picking the mirror up-

Just as Allen went to touch the mirror, to prove to Lenalee that it wasn't a trap, his hand fell through and he followed shortly there after. "Uwaaahhh!"

"Allen!" His teammates called for him, but it felt like he had fallen into a cold pool of water, the liquid filling his ears. He knew that if he attempted to call to them, the cold water would rush into his mouth. Innocence wasn't supposed to feel like this. What was going on? When he opened his eyes, he saw that he had landed on a flat dirt surface. It was clear and bright, and this meant it was day time. He then felt two other bodies slam onto him and he let out the remainder of air that was in his lungs.

"Ouch! Please get off me!" He pleaded. He heard Lenalee and Lavi grumble their apologies, and he waited to have them move off him before he would stand. But then something interrupted his train of thought.

The voice was all too familiar, and so was the sucking sound of a lollipop being pushed out from between lips. The words coming from this person weren't all too familiar though, and he felt as if he were inside his own mind, with everything becoming unknown once again.

"Look at that Tyki... We have ourselves a couple of Noahs dressed as exorcists." Again the voice was familiar, and so was the wild mess of hair, and glint in the eyes, but the words just didnt click in his mind. "If you're thinking you're sneaking into the order and tricking us again, you're mistaken, Noah family."


	3. Chapter 3

A sharp heel buried itself onto his face and Allen peeked up from a crushed point of view to see a long leg with red Mary-Janes and dark thigh high socks. As he looked higher he spotted the well known uniform that he wore on his own back. The bright glare from the sun blocked the face that belonged to the person standing before him, but he didn't need to see her to know who she was.

He felt that he was no longer being crushed by Lenalee or Lavi, but instead by two men. One had long blond hair and a strange laugh, the other's punk styled haircut was all too familiar.

"Augh! Road! Jasdevi!? We thought we'd killed you two-!" He struggled to get up and away from them, but they had the advantage in terms of position, so it seemed as if he was stuck where he had fallen.

"Yeah! Heehee! Fooled you didn't we Noah? No way you can kill us with your dark matter shit!"

He had no clue as to what was happening, but he knew the Noah's loved to play their own little mind games on them all, so he wouldn't let it upset him any more than he already was. "Road! What is this? You'd never even pretend to be an exorcist! You hate us and want us dead! This is the stupidest game you've played on us yet!" He growled as he tried to peek upward.

Road grinned. He couldn't see her fully, but he knew her well enough to know that she had just by the way that she continued to hold herself in that familiar confidence. Her knees bent so that she was squatting on the ground near him, and she stuck her still wet lollipop out, poking the tip of his nose with it. "Game? Oh Allen I'm all too sure you're the one playing games here. You see, we were told to come visit this little town to pick up some innocence. We aren't playing when it comes to you Noah anymore. I won't kill you, because of who you are Allen, but we gave you all a chance to part away from the Earl, and you chose to ignore it. Not only that, but you killed a lot of my friends and family. I'm done with your joking around. "

Her voice was serious and cold. It was just like the time when they thought Tyki had died and Road had come to his rescue. She wasn't giggling, and to Allen, she was either serious, or had grown to be an even better actress.

"This is ubsurd! Road! Let me go right now! Where are Lenalee and Lavi?!" He yelled. Maybe his anger would get the best of him this time, but now that he had no sight of his friends, he didn't know how insane this meeting of enemies would get.

Road wagged her finger upwards and Jasdevi lifted Allen up from the ground while still keeping their firm grip on their captive. That was when Allen finally got a good handle and view on the situation. In front of him stood Road Kamelot, Tyki Mikk and Jasdevi wearing the well known cross on their chest, signifying their allegiance to the Dark Order. A bit further back Allen could see Lenalee and Lavi being dragged away from him to only God knew where by what looked to be akuma disguised as other exorcists. He could feel his heart in his throat, and his lungs filling with dry, unbreathable, air.

"I'm serious Road... If you've got another of your plans in play I'll-"

Tyki stepped in now, the familiar cigarette in his mouth letting loose a stream of poisonous smoke into the already murderous air. "You'll what boy? Attack?"

Allen let a gasp out as he took a good look at the cigarette the older man was smoking and realized that the glow from the end wasn't the regular red that fire cast, but instead the sharp green of innocence. He also realized the reason that Jasdevi was able to overpower him so easily was that the smoke he thought plainly of a few seconds prior was actually being controlled by Tyki, and it was binding Allen's arms together.

"Wait- what's going on here...?" He asked, a confused daze beginning to overcome him.

"That's what we'd like to know, Boy. You haven't even tried to fight off my innocence..." It sounded as if Allen was the one being spoken to but in reality Tyki was only referring to him as if he was an extra in the background, and instead he was talking to Road. "... Strange that its not even hurting him in any way..."

She had to agree, and Road walked over, touching Allen's face as she moved it every which way to take a good and close look at him, " Yeah... Stigmata haven't even shown up on his skin or anything... Do you think that story about him moving from Noah to innocence user are true...? That's what we were told right..?"

Allen spotted something strange in Road's eyes. It looked a bit hopeful at the mention of his having innocence, but it was quickly taken away when that hopeful look was given to Tyki, and he turned it away with a shake of his head. "No way... If he were becoming an exorcist... The innocence that would belong to him would poison his body in a way... Noah don't act well to innocence just as our innocence reacts badly to their dark matter."

"Two sides of the same coin... Right I know. " Road responded and pulled away from Allen yet again.

This was all stuff he'd been told before, but he still remained confused. He knew that innocence hurt the Noah, but how was Tyki using it right now? And now that he came to realize it, if those people dressed as finders were Akuma, why hadn't his eye reacted to them? Why hadn't he seen the chained and doomed souls attached to their weary machine bodies?

"No... Wait! We came through the mirror..! I don't know what's going on, and this is a really bad joke, but you're not getting any further on it until I know what's going on and why Tyki is controlling innocence!" Allen called to his innocence, his voice weak and unsteady due to the curcunstances, but still loud enough to get its attention. "Innocence! Activate!"

The glow from his arm was enough to make Jasdevi jump backward from shock alone. Road and Tyki had no words either as Allen's arm extended and grew right before their eyes. They watched as it went from a regular arm to a sword. They watched as a beautiful silver mask floated down and covered his face, and a white fur hood covered his head.

"No..."

"Like I said, this joke is over if you guys are kidnapping my friends. " Allen let his serious tone get to them, to prove his point. "So let them go Road. "

They stood back for a moment, both with mouths agape at the sight of the crown clown. Road was the first to react, and react she did.

Her small, seemingly delicate, hands brushed up against her forehead and pushed her bangs away. Underneath them Allen saw the same old cross cuts that he had always seen on Road before, and he smirked, thinking it had been a joke until she continued.

"... Innocence Activate!" Out from the crosses on her forehead came red innocence, much like Lenalee's own crystal type. It wrapped around her head in blood like a crown and then rose to the air. When it did, it became a chakra like weapon, which she held in a defensive stance, waiting for him to attack.

"You've got... Crystal type innocence too?" He asked in a quiet voice, all certainty finally leaving him.

Allen began instead to feel the darkness crawling over him, the same kind he always felt when Neah wanted to make an appearance. He couldn't let this happen now. If he wanted to prove to them that he was an exorcist, he couldn't let the 14th slip in to make a scene. Still, though, the more he fought to push it away, the less he seemed capable of doing so at the moment.

'No... Stay back. This will make things worse. We don't know what we've wandered into...' He thought as he eyed all the exorcists around him. Lenalee and Lavi were no where to be seen, and he was surrounded.

He watched as he was watched, like an animal on the run. They had him cornered and he couldn't attack. Obviously what they were saying was somewhat true, the proof was right in front of him. What kind of world had he been thrown into? And how was he going to get himself out with Lenalee and Lavi in one piece?

"Times up, Boy." Tyki's voice was deep and dark and the last thing he heard before he darkened out, unsure whether it was the Noah inside him finally coming out, or the smoke from Tyki's cigarette filling his lungs with a dangerous attack.


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: hey guys sorry I've been gone for so long. My entire chapter got wiped from my phone and I got demotivated. I'm getting back on the horse though so thanks for being so patient!**_

"This isn't the world you're used to... I can feel the difference...even if you won't let me out, there's something out there you're not ready to face."

Allen knew the voice as Neah's, the 14th's. He was stuck within the darkness of his mind once again and he was trying to shake it off as fast as he could. He could remember the last thing he was doing, and that was fighting Road and Tyki. Why did this have to happen now? Of all times that he'd fallen asleep and had to fight off this Noah, this was on the top of the list. He knew he needed to get out, and he knew that there was something out there, no need for Neah to say anything. The thing out there was Road, and she had innocence. She was ready to attack him, and wasn't going to hold back. He being unconscious wasn't a reason for her to stop, he knew that before. Innocence wouldn't change who she was. The mischievousness she'd always had was still in her eyes and her grin was the same. He had to...

"Wake up! Allen please! You need to get up!"

A sudden dropping sensation overcame his body and Allen felt himself fall awake. His eyes shot open and revealed the same kind of darkness he'd had within his mind just a few moments ago. He pushed himself backward until he felt a cold rocky wall behind him and he realized that he wasn't inside his mind anymore. Allen willed his eyes to adjust to the shadows and he was able to pick out a few silhouettes in the overwhelming black that were his surroundings. Lavender eyes and red hair from two separate shadows were unsaturated but still recognizable and they waited for him to come completely around before they reacted to him and he to them.

"...Allen? Are you alright?"

It was Lenalee's voice that had welcomed him back first and then Lavi's followed. " Hey... You got yourself together now?" Scooting closer, they both loomed over the newly awakened exorcist. "We were worried you'd been killed. They grabbed us by surprise and threw us in here but they had you for a long time before they threw you in here."

Here? Where was here? Allen wondered. A smile brushed his lips, to show his friends that he was fine, but he had to grab his head, a hard pain shot through the front and hit the back when he moved. As he straightened up he finally could see where he and his friends had been taken to.

It was the same as the jail cell he'd been placed into when he'd been suspected of betraying the order a few months ago. Even the metal door had the exact window opening covered in the same amount of bars that his had. He wondered if the Order itself only had one real room to keep prisoners, as usually it would be problematic to have co-conspirators in the same room. They'd be left to plan their own devices.

Maybe they were watching and that's what they actually wanted.

Lavi seemed to know exactly what Allen was thinking and he stood up and shuffled to the door, peeking as best he could to spot any third party members to this conversation. "No ones around as far as I can see," which wasn't very far at all, "we gotta get out of here before anyone decides to show up."

With a few more scooches, Lenalee was beside Allen, checking the wound he'd a apparently gotten from being thrown in and having his head knocked against the cement ground. It bled but he would be fine as innocence was already rushing to heal the wound. "If the Noah's have taken over the order we can't leave, Lavi! What about my brother? What about Kanda or Timothy or Krory or Miranda or any of the others?" Her voice was high pitched, a sign she was worried, even though she was trying to keep it down at the same time.

Allen realized that he had been the only one to see Road and Tyki using innocence. Lenalee and Lavi had no idea what it was that was going on. Honestly, Allen didnt either but he was a little closer to the truth than his friends were. Only problem was that his knowledge on the situation extended to that information and that information alone.

"I don't think anything here is as it seems... They had innocence. I didn't see any akuma souls in the whole group of finders, and Road and Tyki... Well you saw them. They were wearing uniforms. They even treated me as ifk I were a Noah."

Allen had been treated like a Noah before, he was somewhat used to that, but with the different circumstances that it had happened in now, the accusation had a completely different feeling that it had before. He watched as Lenalee and Lavi exchanged worried glances as well, and they both waited for Allen to continue. When he didnt, Lavi took the stage.

"Well last thing I remember is that mirror... Do you think that we're in some sort of... Opposite.. World or something?"

The notion was ridiculous. How could that be? How could a mirror do something like that? But then, how could shoes break through monsters, or a hammer grow 10 times it's size? How could Allen's arm do what it did?

"Didnt the report mention doubles and doppelgängers? Could they have been stepping over...? From this side to ours..? That would mean that innocence has something to do with it." Lenalee seemed certain now, they all did. "Would that mean that it's all a backwards illusion created by the mirror innocence?" She asked aloud what they had all been thinking.

Allen was all healed up, but the ghost of the pain still ached at the back of his head. "I don't know. The pain felt pretty real to me. We can't take any of this for granted. "

Lavi made a mental note to write all this down when he could, and maybe get some proof as well, to keep in the bookman history. "If it's parallel to us, it would make sense why we're here in jail. That little dream devil out there is a good guy and we're not. I don't think I can live in a world like that. " Even though he wasn't exactly a good guy either, Lavi knew he had to be neutral. So would his other self be that way as well he wondered.

Just as Allen was about to speak, the door clanged open and in came another group of surprises.

A man with a monocle and curly hair, who looked like Tyki, stepped in surrounded by more scientists. He wore nothing but white and a cross rose decorated his chest with a vain sort of honor. They'd seen him before, when the order had been attacked the second time. It was Sheryl Kamelot. "Hmm it seems we have ourselves some interesting prisoners in our mist."

He held his head up for a moment before he leaped over to them and began to inspect them closely with his eyewear. "Very interesting indeed."

"Chief Sheryl. You shouldn't be so close to them. They're dangerous. " Tyki stepped up again, his uniform being worn proudly as well, as if he'd always worn it. He probably had in this world. Though his hands were tucked inside gloves, you could still see the strength behind them as he gripped at the chief and pulled him away. "Let the exorcist at least take him. "

Allen froze and held his arm out, waiting for the need to attack as if he were a cornered stray cat in an alley. "Take me? Take me where?"

With a minor hint of surprise wiped away quickly, Tyki's all to familiar smirk reached his carefully sculpted face. "Boy, you've got innocence. We have to take you to see Hevlaska. "


	5. Chapter 5

The feeling of strange familiarity was beginning to become bothersome, annoying, and repetitive. Once again Allen found himself in an all too familiar and unfamiliar situation. Tyki was walking him to the very same room he'd last seen Hevlaska at. The giant innocence user was still as tall and scary as she had been when he'd first met her. However, he knew that she was much more than that. He knew that the monster woman was kind and gentle and a very powerful exorcist. With Tyki walking beside him, a firm grip on Allen's arm wasn't the only thing keeping him from running away. Tyki's innocence smoke was wrapped firmly around Allen, waiting to tighten to dangerous extremes if needed to. Lenalee and Lavi were kept behind because they hadn't fought and hadn't shown any signs of innocence, something that they were going to continue to keep secret in case they needed the upper hand at any moment. No matter if they were exorcists here in this illusionary, or real, world, he'd neer trust them fully.

Just like the Order itself would never trust him in the same manner.

He felt the same sharp grip that had been holding onto him press his head forward into yet another dark room. "-boy! Stop day dreaming and get in there."

He stumbled forward, not having expected the shove, and when he pulled himself together and stared upward, the glow of the large, monster like, innocence user was bright. His Hevlaska, as he should have expected, was not his own. A woman he'd only seen in his dreams waited for him. He'd never thought that Hevlaska had a likeness related to what she'd looked like before she'd become a parasitic innocence user, but then again he'd never known her prior to her having changed. This time, he knew the face behind the monster, and he felt a shift in his stomach as he realized it had been that woman from his false memories. The ones that Neah had given him. Allen didn't know her name, nor did she know much about her, but he knew that she was a mother to someone. He could see it in her face.

Allen didn't scream when Hevlaska reached over and picked him up to gauge his synchronization rate, much to the chagrin of the Order members, simply because he'd been through all of this before, and he knew that Hevlaska, of any sort, wasn't ever going to hurt an innocence user.

"You're strong Allen Walker... and you're more synchronized with your innocence than I've seen for a long time, an interesting note to mention on a supposed Noah whom just got his innocence... I sense you've got a largely almost unbelievable story about all this... and I sense that you've already passed through my doors somehow, without my having ever met you. Your story must be an interesting one..." She spoke softly, just as Allen has expected. Though he stared at her wide eyed for her beautiful and large form, he was still merely shocked to her resemblance to the woman he'd seen in his dreams. Such a cliché.

"I have... But how could you...?"

"The innocence between our worlds is synchronized like a single unit is synchronized to it's user. Sometimes the rate is so high that the bridges meet." It seemed like a confirmation to what he'd figured out on his own, though he didn't know that his Hevlaska could do the same as this one. They were, however, technically the same being. "I don't very much have contact with my opposite, but I have understood her existence for quite some time."

"So my Hevlaska knows... about this other world?"

"To us, you are the other world. But yes."

"Then why wouldn't she have ever mentioned it...?" He asked, his eyes no longer stared at her with wide eyed emotion, but more with disbelief, that a secret as large as a whole other universe was kept from the Order.

"She doesn't need to. She didn't need to. The tie between worlds is known to only a few, because neither side can exist without the other. My heroes are villains on your side, because they need darkness to counteract the good they do here. Your heroes, your friends and family, are villains in my world, because they do so much good in your realm. There is black and white. A balance to the good and to the bad."

"That doesn't answer my question... and it makes me wonder even more why you know this, while I've never even heard of it until this innocence sent us here."

"If more people knew there would be one of many horrible outcomes. One, either side would attempt war with the other in fear of having doppelgängers. Humans are fearful creatures. Two, they would become self aware of their deeds, and the worlds would become unbalanced, killing one another off...Not to mention, neither of us expected a piece of innocence to have the power to bring the worlds together even existed."

"I understand..." Allen had met humans who were fearful, who were distrusting, and she knew what she spoke to be the truth. He fought for them, but he knew how rashly they acted. It was because of fast and unthinking decisions that people even agreed to a contract with the Millennium Earl.

"I only know my other halve because of the great good that innocence bears on us. We balance off one another in order to exist. The innocence is tied between worlds, and with so many of them kept within me, it is easy to keep communication open between myself and my opposite."

"Communication?" Allen continued to stare up at her. This was a lot of information to take in all at once. "So you can talk to my side?"

"It's not as easy as that," He felt her let out a large breath. He didn't know Hevlaska could breath. "It's not through words that we speak through but by feeling. With your coming over here, there's been an imbalance and I can no longer feel her presence. My world has too much evil in it, because your versions of existence on my plane aren't exorcists, they weren't called to find that innocence. Because of that, they weren't pushed over onto your side. They remain here.

"It will be difficult to return you as long as that bridge isn't fixed." She spoke as if she knew what he was thinking, and she most likely did. "For that first, I must send you on a mission. One that I must ask you to keep secret from the exorcists here."

There was no problem with that. As long as Allen knew these exorcists as evil, he wouldn't confront them. They'd always be evil as long as he knew them as people who voluntarily worked with the Earl. "As long as it gets my friends to safety, you don't need to ask twice Hevlaska." He took her probing tentacle by his hand and held it in a reassuring manner. "What do I have to do?"

"I must ask you to meet with yourself from this side, and send him over to yours. I cannot tell my exorcists about the equilibrium needed to run both worlds, so the most difficult task would be to sneak away from them and finding the innocence. I will let them know you can be trusted by them, and you should trust them as allies until you part."

Allen peeked down and that was when he realized no one below could hear them. Sheryl, the Chief of this division, was peeking up intently and speaking with Tyki. Both acted as if they hadn't heard a single thing. The entire conversation they'd had had happened between he and Hevlaska, in their minds.

"One last question...Why can't I and my friends just jump over...?"

"Every minute you're here, your friends unbalance it more and more. Even yourself, in the gray, are adding too much neutral to the world. We must balance first, to do that, find the innocence that caused this rift first and then have your other self go through it. All I know of it is that it wasn't picked up at the sight of where you came over, I would have it if it had been."

Allen nodded and stared down yet again. The two were talking still and a small crowd of the scientists gathered. "They're getting restless."

"And that's why I must let you go here Allen Walker. But thank you. I will be here to continue answering your questions once you complete the first task. I am forever grateful."

He let his feet land softly as Hevlaska set him down beside the exorcists and he eye them with a confidant smirk. Tyki gave a huff all while Sheryl came over and continued the look over that he hadn't been able to finish earlier. "So? What do you think Hevlaska? Do you sense anything amazing from him?"

"He is an exorcist indeed. In fact, his innocence is incredibly in sync compared to some of the other exorcists here... It's as if he's always been one. And I feel no ill intentions from his innocence either. It is real."

Tyki let out yet another huff and pulled out a cigarette. He wasn't quite sure if it was a real cigarette or his innocence. At this point with him so far in the game it didn't honestly matter anymore. "Right then... what do we do...?"

"We trust him." Sheryl smiled and finally stood away from Allen, releasing his arm from the intense examination he was giving him. Instead he chose to clean his monocle and peek at them and then to Hevlaska with it. He knew that at the very least Tyki would be staring at him strangely. "If Hevlaska says he is fine, I won't argue a single point of it. If he was a Noah still, Allen's dark matter would be fighting against his parasitic innocence. Right now, at least, I believe we can trust him."

A long silence spread between them and Allen could feel the hairs on the back of his head raise as Tyki stared at him and watched him with a harsh stare, "Guess we're colleagues now, aren't we?" He laughed sheepishly. It was odd being placed among these former enemies. And being colleagues would be difficult if he'd be keeping such a large secret between them.

"Just don't think I'll trust you so easily." Despite his words, Tyki smiled and held his hand out for Allen to take.

Allen shook it firmly. "Same here."


	6. Chapter 6

Trust is a hard thing to build.

Allen knew that very well. He'd worked for such a long time earning so many peoples' trust that it was easy habit to just smile his regular smile and act the same way he'd always had. Even if this time it was with a whole new group of exorcists. As he wandered the halls, he knew that he had to find a way to gain their trust quickly. Lenalee and Lavi might be wasting away in the cell for who knew how long until he was able to get them out. To do that, he knew he had to be trusted.

It didn't help that Tyki was the one showing him around. And it certainly didn't help that Allen had to pretend that he had no idea that Tyki had to turn left instead of right, or up the stairs instead of down. From what he'd gathered, their timeline was a bit different. It made sense, after all. Things were different. People were completely different. It was because of this that Allen could guess that they'd just come in. Not even Tyki knew the full way around yet.

The curly headed man stopped in the middle of the hall and lit a cigarette, his smoke surrounding Allen as if it were planning to attack. Allen couldn't tell if this was innocence or not until it retracted and Tyki took a deep breath of it. "You still play poker, Boy?" it sounded as if he were trying to start a conversation. It made Allen wonder if Tyki really was trying to trust him. "You still owe me a game after that train ride."

Allen also wondered if what their interactions had been like in this world. He pushed his hands through his now lengthy white hair and let it fall against his forehead once again. The cigarette smoke didn't smell and instead it danced around Tyki's head. Allen scanned the surrounding area. It was a habit he'd gained from working as an exorcist for so long. He constantly was on edge, waiting for an attack from akuma from any direction at any time. He realized that he'd spent too much time on his surroundings and hadn't yet responded to Tyki the exorcist. "Oh uh yeah! And I'm willing to bet I can break you again." The glint was in his eye was quick and momentary, but he couldn't help but let it spark at the mention of the old rivalry they had had. "But I'm starving right now. Can you show me where the cafeteria is?"

Tyki nodded and stomped out the cigarette, the left over smoke escaping through his nostrils as he began to lead the way to the large room where everyone gathered to eat, finders, scientists, and exorcists alike. When they arrived, Allen was flooded with familiarity. Everywhere he looked, Allen could see everyone laughing and smiling and sitting together in comradery. It was nice to see. And then he spotted the exorcists, and froze at how... human they actually were.

Down the way, Jasdevi sat at a table and talked. Debitto was attempting to brush out food that Jasdero had managed to get into his long blond hair. Jasdero had tears in his eyes, panicking about how it was stuck and how he'd never be able to get it out. Just across from them sat Lullubell. She was quiet as she'd been that night they met her, she sat reading this time a book that seemed to be quite popular. Two finders sat beside her and read it alongside her, though they both attempted to chat her up about whatever it was they were reading. And then he spotted Road. He'd never thought that she of all of them would look human. He'd seen her as a monster even when she looked like a regular girl. The only time he'd been fooled was the first time he saw her, and that had been it. But now, now was different. She sat at the table, head in her hands as she too read from a book, though hers looked thick and she had others in stacks around her, her food plate just atop one of the piles.

Suddenly she slammed her hand against the hard wood of the table and the chattering around her seemed to stop. "Will you two cut it out! I'm trying to study! Just go wash your stupid hair Jasdero or I can have it all cut off!" Her bright blue eyes shone with a threat and Jasdevi stood up, arguing in return.

"What the fuck!? Just because you're stupid enough to not study where you should be, doesn't mean you should snap at us like that!" Debitto grabbed a book and began to dangle it by the cover, the pages threatened to rip off from how old the literature was.

"YOU promised you would help me!" Road stood up and grabbed the book from the older brother, successfully having it rip in half. Jasdevi just laughed and laughed, and Road's eyes sparked even more with anger as they did. She took the cover that was left behind in her hands and began to smash it against their heads. Everyone else around just laughed as if they were watching siblings arguing. Allen wondered if these were the regular dynamics of the order on this side of the mirror. "I'm going to cut it off! I swear I'm going to cut it all off! Then who'll be laughing!? You won't even see me coming! Then I'll paint the walls of the halls with your tears!"

Someone breathed a heavy sigh behind Allen and he remembered that Tyki was still there. The man pushed past Allen and made his way to the group. It seemed as if he'd had enough of their interactions and he picked Road up by the back of her uniform collar and lifted her high up and rested her on his shoulders. "Ok ok now babies. Let's stop this mess now and you're all pretty."

"Tyki!" Road pouted and kicked her legs on his shoulders as if trying to get away, though it was obvious she wasn't going to go anywhere with Tyki's grip around her. She used her hands as claws and attempted her best to get at Jasdevi, who made faces at her from where they stood in safety. "These two! THESE TWO! I'll kill them! I'll kill them and make it look like a boating accident!"

Allen couldn't understand why anyone could get so riled up over the loss of a textbook, then he got his answer. "Cheif's gonna kill me if he sees that you know it Tyki! That was his book! He's going to experiment on me and steal my eyes or something! I'll get revenge and haunt this place if I have to!" Allen understood now. If their chief was anything like Komui was, it was dangerous to mess with any of his things.

Jasdevi screamed out in protest, yelling how there was no way he'd get in trouble. "Your his damned little special nugget of love or some shit like that! You'll get off scott free so stop making it such a damned big deal!"

"YEAH YEAH!" Jasdero agree from behind Debitto, his blond hair still in his hands as he continued to attempt brushing the gunk out of his locks. "Worst thing he'll do is dress you up like a dame!"

"AND IF HE DOES, I'LL SMOTHER YOU IN YOUR SLEEP!" Road continued scratching at the twins and writhing in Tyki's arms. She looked like a pouty cat who just wasn't getting her way. The commotion was a bit funny, and Allen couldn't help but finally let out a snicker. He'd sometimes imagine what the Noahs were like outside of battle, though he never admitted it to anyone. He wondered it sometimes in secret when the thought would cross him on his joining them. What if he was forced to be on their side? What if they took him? Would they be as animated as they were right now? He somehow thought so, as after all they worked for the opposite side but they were still themselves. It made his head hurt a bit to think about, though.

His laughter apparently caught the ear of everyone around, and spectators who had been watching shifted nervously in their seats at the sound of the enemy's chuckle. Some people gave him a deathly glare. Others gathered their belongings and left the café. The arguing exorcist family froze in place and watched him. He had stopped laughing, but Allen wondered how many times they'd actually heard him laugh, if it froze them up as much as it seemed to have done. He didn't know they'd heard the laugh every time one of their comrades fell to his hand.

"What's that bastard doing outside of his cage?" Allen realize that any of the anger they'd had in their miniature fight hadn't been as real as the contempt they held for him. Debitto continued to push his brother behind him to protect him, but Jasdero also pushed himself forward, as if ready to fight. "You shift even one step to the left and we'll cut off that fake innocence a' yours" The dark haired brother threatened.

Allen did not step backward, he didn't want to show that he was afraid. He had no reason to be afraid after all. They were to be allies just like Hevlaska had ordered of him, and he needed their trust to be able to get himself and his friends back home. Besides, he wasn't all that afraid of them anyhow. He waited for Tyki to explain why he was there but when he didn't Allen took the stage. "Hevlaska cleared me to be an exorcist. My innocence is real."

They all stopped and stared another moment longer, before they looked to Tyki, their gazes all asking the same thing, 'Was it true?'

Tyki nodded, answering the unasked question, and Allen let his shoulders fall. He hadn't noticed that he'd stiffened. he thought he wasn't afraid, but he was still definitely on edge about them still. He couldn't let them get to him, or he would fail his mission of getting himself and his friends back home. "It's true. I was there. Hevlaska passed him and so Chief Sheryl thinks we should give him a chance."

Before Tyki could finish, Allen found himself on the other side of a chakra blade. He hadn't seen Road activate her innocence, but here he stood, the blood metal threatening to cut into his throat. He felt himself actually take a step back now, the flashback of this happening when he first met Kanda happening all over again. "W-Wha-...?!" He was at a loss for words. When had she even jumped away from Tyki's hold? He knew her to be light, but he hadn't known her so light that she'd maneuver herself so easily. She was much quicker here than in his world, and that said quite a lot.

"What happened to all that laughter,_ Noah?" _She said the world with such contempt that it caught him even more off guard than the sudden attack. Allen wondered what kind of history could he and she had that she could hate him so much? "Let's play a little game, shall we Allen?"

Tyki stepped up and pulled on Road's collar yet again, and tried to get her attention, but this time she shrugged him off. They could tell she'd changed from her easy going self to her battle self in less than a second. Allen had indeed done a lo to deserve this, they knew. So many of their family members were dead because of him. When Road got serious, so did her games. "Yo Road, calm down. They're already keeping an eye on him. It's not like there isn't an eye on him wherever he goes anyway. You know how they are here."

She knew well. They trusted no one, not even her, even if she'd been here for so long. It wasn't at the call of the chief, though. Ever since that other man had come in from the Vatican, the man named Adam, things had grown to be stiff and deliberately intense. There were secret golems on her and Tyki, and most likely a million more on Allen Walker. It didn't stop her from wanting to separate his arms from his body and hear his scream. She bet it would be fantastically beautiful.

"Fine." Road pulled the chakra away from Allen's thin skin and made it disappear. She turns on her heel sharply, and grabbed what was left of her home-work. Her steps were quick as she walked past him. For a moment, he felt her breath brush against his ear gently, letting out a malicious threat. "I have my own games I can play, Noah. It'll be fun to see you squirm when I rip your innocence from you~". Her words were very much like the Road from his own side, but she detested him, and that was a shocking difference from the Road that was so in love with him in the world he came from.

The others pushed past him too, and left Allen behind with Tyki. The man gave a shrug and lit yet another cigarette before making his way past as well. Allen was finally alone, without them. And he was fine with that. Looking around, he noticed the rest of the cafeteria had cleared out, including the kitchen. It made it easy for him to grab some food from back there to eat, and to take to his friends in heir quarters. "I hope they're not too hungry..." He wondered if he really was being followed by a golem. If he was he hadn't seen it yet, but the others walked around with what seemed to be their own golems. He,at least assumed, it was their own golems. He'd never know the full secrets of this place. He wasn't going to allow himself to stay either, to learn them.

With food in hand, he set himself off to find the chamber that Lenalee and Lavi were being held in. Allen may not have been the smartest, but he knew his way back there at the very least. He felt eyes on him, and it unsettled him just a minor bit, and he continued to push himself toward the goal of the cell room. They were right, he was definitely being watched. Now that they had mentioned it, he couldn't un-feel the sensation. He turned a quick corner, hoping to get free from whatever the stare was, but instead he came across the large chest of an equally large man.

"Oomf!" Allen fell backward and onto the ground, all the small scraps of food her had managed to steal fell to the ground with him and spread out on display for all to see. When he looked up to view who his unwilling assailant had been, he was met eye to eye with the same golden eyes and strange clown smile he'd known his whole childhood. "M-...Mana...?"

The man raised a brow and stared down at Allen. he did not lend out his hand for him to take. He did not budge an inch to help him up either. "No... My name is Adam. I'm from the Vatican... it's very nice to finally meet you, Allen Walker. I've heard a lot about your... Noah exploits."


End file.
